Nationals lower ticket prices at new park

The Washington Nationals, who rank in the bottom half of Major League Baseball in attendance despite a new ballpark, are lowering some of their season ticket prices for next season.

Prices will go down for 7,500 seats in the 41,888-seat Nationals Park, mostly in the outfield sections. Seats in most of the discounted sections will cost $5 to $10 less per game, lowering the stadium's average season ticket price for a non-premium seat to approximately $29.

The team opted not to lower the prices of the expensive seats behind home plate, where sparse attendance has sometimes created an embarrassing image on television. Those tickets sell for as much as $400 per game.

The Nationals, in last place in the NL East, are averaging 29,509 fans per game, 18th in the majors and well below the National League average of 34,204 following Wednesday's games.